Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 1:38PM ET - Canadian Markets close in 2 hours and 22 minutes.
The Ontario government hopes their new initiatives aimed at cracking down on street racing will spell the 'end of the race' for drivers who take their need for speed out onto public roads.
The new initiatives, to begin September 30th, 2007 means police can charge drivers who are speeding more than 50 km/h over the posted limit with significantly stiffer penalties than they face now. These new penalties could include:
• An immediate, seven-day licence suspension and seven-day vehicle impoundment
• If convicted, a possible maximum fine of $10,000
• For a second conviction, within 10 years of the first, a possible court-ordered licence suspension of up to 10 years
So how many people could these new initiatives affect? According to the provincial government, on average, there are 2500 convictions for this extreme speeding ticket every year.
$treet racing dollars and sense
kanetix.ca wondered how this would impact the Ontario shoppers that visit the kanetix.ca auto insurance quote comparison service, so a quick study was undertaken to look at the aggregated data from this group of shoppers. The data comes to us from the collective group of Ontario drivers who so far in 2007 (August) completed online auto insurance quotes through kanetix.ca.
First the good news; only 332 drivers so far have listed speeding 50km/h over the posted limit as a ticket (In order to get an accurate quote, drivers are asked to enter the type of tickets they've received in the last 3 years.) This comprises less than 0.2 per cent of the kanetix.ca shopping population.
Now the bad news for those 332 drivers; right now, speeding 50 km/h over the speeding limit is a "major" ticket. If it is reclassified into the same group as racing, there's virtually no doubt that your auto insurance premiums will increase significantly. In the sample scenario we ran, with a 30 year-old driver, the lowest price quoted was almost 82 per cent higher in price than if the conviction was still considered a "major".
Ouch.
Street smarts means driving smartly
Give it a try and do your own study to see how much a conviction for "racing" impacts your auto insurance rate. Visit kanetix.ca today to compare. Or better yet, if you know someone who is an 'extreme' driver get them to complete an online auto insurance quote. It's free, quick and anonymous, and allows everyone to see how much their actions might financially cost them.
Rates provided by 
| Mortgages Type | Rate |
|---|---|
| 1-yr Closed | 3.54% |
| 3-yr Closed | 4.15% |
| 5-yr Closed | 4.97% |
| GICs Type | Rate |
|---|---|
| 1-yr Annual | 0.95% |
| 3-yr Annual | 2.12% |
| 5-yr Annual | 2.77% |
| RRSP Type | Rate |
|---|---|
| 1-yr | 0.94% |
| 3-yr | 2.09% |
| 5-yr | 2.75% |
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